Sponsor Spotlight

To us our mission is not just words that sound nice, they are the driving force for everything that we do. We truly take our mission "to elevate San Diego’s design community to the global stage with curated events designed to engage, challenge, and inspire. Involving programming across various industries, disciplines, mediums, and cultures, our hope is that attendees will learn something new, observe something from a different angle, create work in response to the experience, and come to understand the value of design and its contributions to our community” to heart.Because of that, we believe providing resources for design students and professionals who are working on their portfolios is essential for Design Week. Enter: Adobe XD’s Portfolio Review Sessions.

From 9-10 am on September 9 & 10, Adobe XD will be hosting live review sessions where you can watch a senior designer conduct three live UX portfolio reviews per session. Designers are encouraged to submit their portfolios for consideration for review by Sunday, September 6 HERE. The six participants who are selected to have their portfolio reviewed will receive one year of Adobe Creative Cloud full membership. In addition, Adobe XD will also be offering live 45-minute sessions one-on-one with UX creative leaders from all around the world! These are on a first come, first serve basis and designers are encouraged to submit HERE. We spoke to Oregon-based Megan Reinhardt, senior community manager at Adobe, about these unique virtual review sessions.Why is Adobe involved in San Diego Design Week? Any specific ties to SD?

Personally, I love the San Diego community and try to get down there every year to do a community event. For the last few years, we’ve partnered with different organizations to put on Creative Jams because of all the outstanding creative talent there. This year, of course, with the world turned upside down it's all different. I’ve been working with the UX community in general over the last few years and with San Diego being such a growing market right now for UX we thought offering up sessions with that focus would be beneficial. People new to the area can get a glimpse of what Adobe XD is all about too. We usually get designers of all skill levels, so for those that are more seasoned, it's hopefully a chance to hone their skills and expand their skill set. We’re seeing lots of traditional graphic designers exploring the UX world, and since Adobe XD works seamlessly with other CC products, it makes perfect sense to reach out to them.

How did you determine what was most needed/wanted?


After meeting with the event organizers and learning more about the programming this year, coupled with our knowledge of the hiring climate in San Diego, we thought portfolio reviews might be just the thing.

Why live portfolio reviews? How will this help designers?


We’re actually doing two different types of portfolio reviews this time. There will be live reviews as well as private one-on-one sessions. With live reviews, everyone gets a chance to learn! We’ll review submissions, choose three portfolios, and then leaders in the UX field will give their critiques of each one. It's always so fascinating to hear the different perspectives, suggestions and compliments. For the one-on-one reviews, designers can submit their portfolio and then we’ll match them up with a UX leader. We have reviewers from all over the world, and the reviewee will get 45 minutes with their UX leader. We’re hoping that, with both types of events, everyone will get some really solid recommendations, ideas and inspiration on how to improve their portfolio. Sometimes even the slightest tweaks can really make a difference.

How did you land on the group of reviewers?


I’ve had the honor of meeting amazing people on my journey working with the design community worldwide. Our list of reviewers is still growing, and we’re trying to have a good mix of folks from different parts of the world. We’re also trying to keep a balance of different types of UXers. For example, one reviewer might be a lead at a digital agency, or someone else might lead a team from an enterprise-size company.

How important are portfolios for designers in today’s job market?


I think it's extremely important to show off your work, represent yourself in the best light possible and present your skills in highly unique and personalized ways.

Anything else you want to add about Adobe’s events?


We’re grateful to all the fine folks putting on San Diego Design week! It's going to be an amazing week all the way around.